Customer Reviews

It Will Stand

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General Johnson, the great lead singer of this fantastic Doo Wop group would enjoy commercial success as lead singer of the late 60's-early 70's era Soul Rock group CHAIRMEN OF THE BOARD with such classic Top 40 Pop-R&B Chart hits as "Give Me Just A little More Time", "Pay To The Piper" and "Chairman Of The Board" among others. General's vocal style was already intact and incredibly rounded out as early as 1961, and one of the most sought after early rock era hits, "IT WILL STAND"[included here], maintains its universal status as one of the most unforgettable anthemic rock and roll tracks ever recorded. "IT WILL STAND" inspires you to jump up, snap your fingers, clap your hands and dance to the music as General Johnson's singing inspires all who hear this rare energized classic slice of "old time rock and roll" to move around. Sweet Soulful Music, indeed! The Showmen's recordings are a hard to find necessity, you won't regret including this Cd in your prized music collection! Ditto for Chairmen Of The Board. It's all right there in General Johnson's hypnotic vocals!

If you loved Otis Day and the Knights in Animal House, you will love this album. Songs like "It Will Stand" and "39-21-40 Shape" are the best examples of Carolina shag partae music on the planet. Great dancing, and sing-a-long soul music. They are still playing small clubs in the south east, if you have an opportunity to catch them don't miss it, if you want your Frat party to rule, book them.

This group is classic. I recently saw "The Shag" and had to track down "It will stand." Never mind that the label didn't get it. It's magic.

Back in the early 60s, a singles hit meant just that - a 45 rpm record that did well enough on air, in record sales and in juke-box play to make it into the Billboard Pop Hot 100, or on the Country, R&B and Adult Contemporary charts depending upon the song and the artists. Often, many would "cross over" to one or more of the other singles charts, and occasionally both sides of the disc became a hit, and these usually signified a smash. So it's safe to surmise that a commercial hit single was the goal of any artist or group.

So, when a group like The Showmen (lead General Norman Johnson, Dorsey and Gene Knight, Milton Wills, and Leslie Fulton) tried again in the early 1960s, after having seen several cuts at Atlantic stay on the shelf in September 1956 ( How Could You Forget, One More Kiss, Ride Alone, and Papa Lollipop) the frustration over their lack of commercial success must have been grinding.

Of course, being linked to relatively small labels after the Atlantic effort didn't help, and so when their first, It Will Stand, came out in late 1961 on Allen Toussaint's Minit label, home of R&B artists Bobby Womack, Aaron Neville, Benny Spellman and Ernie K-Doe, there was precious little promotional money left for their record, and so it not only struggled to a low # 61 on the Billboard Hot 100, it couldn't even crack the R&B Top 100. The flip on Minit 632 was Country Fool. Nothing else for the label that year, and into 1963, could even manage that modest showing as none among The Wrong Girl/Fate Planned It This Way (Minit 643), I'm Coming Home/I Love You Can't You See (Minit 647), True Fine Mama/The Owl See's You (Minit 654) - all 1962 - and 39 - 21 - 46/Swish Fish Minit 652) in 1963 were able to chart.

Not a good sign for a would-be R&B group. Efforts for the Swan label were also unsuccessful, but for some reason, Imperial re-released their only hit in 1964, including the same flipside [Country Fool], and this time it levelled off at # 80 Hot 100 July. The tip-off should have come from Atlantic's experience with the group in the mid-1950s when they decided to not even RELEASE the records cut there.

Imperial must have seen something in It Will Stand's regional popularity in and around Norfolk, Virginia (their home base) to try again with It Will Stand/Country Fool in 1964, releasing it that summer on Imperial 66033, and this time it stalled at # 80 Hot 100. The records show that it also achieved # 80 on the R&B charts, but Billboard had suspended those charts from late 1963 and throughout 1964, and only assigtned the same Pop rankings much later for "historical" purposes. So, who can say how well it might have done had those charts been functioning. Then, too, they tried smack dab in the middle of the British Invasion, and only the most prominent North American artists were managing to hold their own on the Pop charts then in the face of The Beatles, Stones et al. A later 1964 release on Imperial 66071, Somebody Help Me, failed completely, again b/w Country Fool.

Nor would they have any luck at Swan Records in 1965 as two singles failed there, In Paradise/Take It Baby (Swan 4213) and Our Love Will Grow/You're Everything (Swan 4219), followed by another 1965 release, Valley Of Love/Let Her Feel It In Your Kiss (Airecords 334).
In 1966 Minit tried again with 39-21-46/Swish Fish on Minit 32077, and in 1967 they had A Little Bit (Of Your Love)/Need Love (Jokers Three 4809) and In Paradise/Take It Baby (B B 4015) also fail. As did 1968's Action/What Would It Take (Amy 11036).

So, their lack of success wasn't because they didn't try, try and try again, with this release cobbling together, with excellent sound, some of their better efforts. They also know that their one low hit has evolved into a cult favourite, due to both Johnson's strong lead and the song's tribute to R&R. And Johnson at least would experience far greater success when he formed Chairmen Of The Board and, beginning in 1970, went on to have a string of pop/R&B hits for the Invictus label.